The Department of Energy (DOE) on June 23 launched the Quantum Genesis initiative, which is aimed at developing and deploying what the department described as the world’s first fault-tolerant, scientifically relevant quantum computing capability for research and development by 2028.
DOE said in a press release that the effort will serve as a core element of the broader Genesis Mission, which is a government-wide push to connect high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) for scientific discovery.
The Quantum Genesis initiative comes in response to President Donald Trump’s June 22 quantum computing executive order.
The order establishes the Quantum Computer for Application Development and Discovery Science effort. This directs the federal government to pursue the development of a quantum computer intended to support quantum-enabled scientific discovery and deliver at least one such computer to a DOE facility.
“The Quantum Genesis initiative is the first step in delivering on President Trump’s charge for a national effort in developing a quantum computer powerful enough for scientific research,” said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
“This effort will strengthen U.S. competitiveness, drive breakthroughs that classical systems cannot achieve, and ensure America remains at the forefront of one of the most consequential technologies of our time,” Kratsios said.
DOE said Quantum Genesis will include three main lines of work:
- The DOE Q Competition, which aims to demonstrate fault-tolerant quantum systems in 2028 with logical qubits “numbering in the low hundreds.” The systems will target applications in chemistry, materials science, plasma physics, and high-energy physics.
- The National Quantum Supercomputing User Facility, which would give U.S. scientists and engineers access to advanced quantum computing systems using multiple technical approaches. DOE said this will complement its existing HPC systems, forming a unified HPC-AI-quantum computing ecosystem.
- Focused research and development for quantum computing applications, which will bring together universities, national laboratories, and industry partners to identify high-impact use cases for quantum computers and guide system development.
DOE said it issued a request for information in May for fault-tolerant, scientifically relevant quantum computing systems to help shape the Quantum Genesis effort.
“Through Quantum Genesis, we are bringing together America’s National Laboratories, universities, and private sector innovators to develop and deploy the world’s first scientifically relevant fault-tolerant quantum computing capability,” said Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “America led the last computing revolution, and we intend to lead the quantum age as well.”